I think we can all agree that this year has had a number of tribulations outside of what we normally expect or see. It can be very hard to see that there has also been some good this year, and ironically thanks in no small part to the pandemic. I was updating some paperwork over the weekend and was struck by just such a silver lining.

I need to back up for a minute and go back 2.5 years. New Year’s Eve 2017 (or close to it) in an online group for my long arm, the moderator asked everybody what their goals were for the coming year. Mine was to quilt a top every month. That would be 12 finished tops. She asked me if I did that, how long would it take to finish all my UFOs. I replied with “approximately 6.7 years”. It gave me a pretty good laugh at the time, I rather surprised the moderator, but it also seemed like such a lofty goal. One quilt a month seemed out of my reach. I think I ended up doing 4 or 5 that year. No where near 12, but that idea has stuck with me.

So fast forward back to today, and I’m updating my long arm journal, and I realized I was writing notes for quilts 19 and 20. TWENTY!!!!!!!! It’s still September and I’ve quilted 20 quilts this year. HOLY COW! I only have to do 4 more to hit 24 for the year, TWICE THE ORIGINAL GOAL!

Not all of them were mine as I’m now quilting as a service, but I’m finding the more I do for other people, the more I do of my own. That’s some pretty good progress in my opinion. I’ll probably keep the goal next year of 12 of my own, because honestly I’d love to have 12 customer quilts on the year too which would be a nice balance. So my progress on my UFOs isn’t as fast as it could be but still. Huge change in only 2 years! Don’t know if I would have made the jump without all the stay at home so that’s my silver lining.